Many modern communication sites, such as remote cellular telecommunication base stations, each contain hundreds of thousands of circuit boards and cards referred to as "field replaceable units" ("FRUs"). These FRUs, such as cellular circuit boards, circuit packs, circuit cards, and other electronic or optical hardware utilized in modern telecommunication systems, perform a wide variety of telecommunication functions. FRUs perform, for example, call processing, management of every cellular communication session within a cellular site physical range or vicinity, and code division multiple access ("CDMA") processing.
The FRUs are typically connected within a telecommunication network in large, rack or frame mounted systems, in which each rack or frame contains numerous shelves, and each shelf contains numerous slots. Each FRU is typically insertable into and removable from such a slot. For mobile switching centers ("MSCs") provided by, for example, Lucent Technologies, Inc., each MSC may have 222 cell sites (or base stations), with 553 boards (FRUs) per full cell site, resulting in 122,766 FRUs in only one MSC. Switching centers provided by other manufacturers also have a comparable number of FRUs, typically also over 100,000 per mobile switching center. In addition, most cellular telecommunication providers utilize many mobile switching centers in a particular locality, and many cellular telecommunication providers operate in numerous localities. As a consequence, many cellular telecommunication providers potentially utilize a vast number of FRUs in a particular region, having an order of magnitude in the millions to hundreds of millions or more.
Inventory and management of such a significant number of FRUs is, obviously, an extraordinarily difficult task. Such a task is even greater because not only are there a huge number of FRUs, but also there are a wide variety of FRUs performing a wide variety of communication functions. These FRUs a re typically printed circuit boards containing complex hardware, such as multiple microprocessors, memory chips, digital signal processors ("DSPs") and other integrated circuits ("Ics"), with complex software and firmware providing and controlling such communication functions. In addition, with the growth and expansion of telecommunication services, as telecommunication providers have added capacity over time, many of the FRUs in service are of different "vintages," having different hardware, different firmware, and different software capabilities. In addition, any number of these FRUs with different or similar vintages also may have been purchased and placed into service at different times, may have different repair histories, may have different usage histories, and may have different warranty requirements.
As a consequence, a need remains for an apparatus, method and system to provide for inventory management and control for the potentially vast number of FRUs in a remote communication site. Such an apparatus, method and system should be able to inventory and track each FRU, its status, its location, its serial number, and its hardware and firmware (or other software) vintages. In addition, such an apparatus, method and system should be able to compile such an inventory into a database readily available to and useable by service providers for, among other things, warranty and history tracking. Moreover, such an apparatus, method and system should be automatic, capable of providing such an inventory and database without user intervention, and also capable of providing such an inventory and database upon user demand. Lastly, such an apparatus, method and system should be capable of remotely accessing a multitude of remote sites from a central location.